Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
NEWS  |  CAMPUS

Still swinging: Golfer returns to Gators after heart surgery

<p>Eric Banks tees off during Day 2 of the SunTrust Gator Invitational on Feb. 16 at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.</p>

Eric Banks tees off during Day 2 of the SunTrust Gator Invitational on Feb. 16 at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.

Eric Banks has already overcome much more than any challenge he will face on the golf course.

“If I hit a bad shot or something like that, I know it’s not the end of the world because I kind of almost know what the end of the world is,” Banks said.

Banks, a junior, underwent open heart surgery after a routine physical during his freshman year of college at Florida. At the beginning of April, he won the 2014 David Toms Award, an annual honor presented by the Golf Coaches Association of America given to a male collegiate golfer who has overcome adversity to achieve athletic excellence.

“I was pretty excited when [Conrad Ray, the GCAA’s national advisory board second vice president] first called me, and as soon as I found out, I called my parents right after, and they were all pumped up,” Banks said.

It definitely is a different, happier time compared with Banks’s first semester at UF in Fall 2011.

Before he began the 2011-12 season for Florida golf, Banks took a physical. It was then that doctors found a second heartbeat.

“I went in there, and the last thing was the heart guy [Dr. Beard],” Banks said. “I really hadn’t had any heart issues previous to that, and he just kind of caught it before it got real bad.”

Banks brushed off the physical results and played in three fall tournaments. His parents were still concerned and brought him home to Truro, a town in Nova Scotia, Canada, to be tested thoroughly.

Banks didn’t find out the results of the tests until the SunTrust Gator Invitational in February 2012. His parents made the trip down to tell him that he would need surgery to repair his heart, which had a hole between its two sides.

The junior admits now that he still didn’t fully understand what was going on.

“At first, I didn’t think it was a big deal at all,” Banks said. “I obviously knew there was more to [heart surgery] than it sounded, but I didn’t realize that I would not be playing competitive golf for nine months and couldn’t even walk up the stairs in my own house, so I definitely didn’t realize the magnitude of it when I first found out.”

Because he didn’t need to have the surgery right away, Banks finished out his freshman season of golf, playing in four regular-season tournaments, the Southeastern Conference Championship and the NCAA Regional and Championships. Two weeks after the season ended, he returned to Canada to undergo his surgery.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox

In the four-hour surgery, doctors cut open Banks’ sternum, placed him on a heart-lung machine and began the surgery.

Banks remembers looking into the mirror before the procedure.

“It’s kind of hard to put into words unless you’re actually in that situation,” he said.

“If something went wrong, it could’ve been the last day that I was alive.”

After the surgery, Banks stayed in the hospital for a week. He was then moved home, where he rested for three months.

“I was in a pretty rough place mentally anyway, so I didn’t really want to do anything, so I just sat around all day, and it was awful,” he said. “I was going crazy.”

The only form of exercise Banks was allowed to partake in was his rehab, where he would do stretches to keep his chest and sternum loose and walk in 30-second increments.

The then-sophomore decided to return to Florida for the fall semester even though he was still in rough shape.

“At the time it really didn’t even seem like an option not to come back, so I just came back and didn’t even think about it,” he said.

Although Banks was in Gainesville, he wasn’t physically ready to participate in any tournaments, which didn’t affect coach Buddy Alexander.

“I was just more concerned with the safety and the health and the well-being of Eric in the long run,” Alexander said. “Whatever he needed to do, it was fine with me. I sort of knew that he wouldn’t be playing in the fall, but that was fine. That’s small stuff compared to what he had going on.”

When he first returned to Gainesville, Banks still suffered from an erratic heart rate and irregular blood pressure. He wasn’t allowed to do much with golf other than chip and putt. By late September, though, he was allowed to take full swings and increased his stretching and cardio exercises.

“Our training staff here at UF [did] a terrific job of transporting him back and forth to the doctors and staying on top of it,” Alexander said. “We just kind of eased him back into it.”

Banks went to a check-up later in the fall, where he was told that his heart was fully healthy. He qualified for the 2013 SunTrust Gator Invitational, but Alexander chose to play him as an individual because the tournament called for playing 36 holes in one day. Banks finished tied for 10th place and went on to play in every tournament that spring.

Alexander doesn’t see one of his best golfers as a victim, but as a tough and mature athlete.

“I think he dealt with it the same way you would deal with it, too,” Alexander said. “If you had to do it, what’s your option?”

Banks believes this experience has changed his perspective on life.

“I appreciate everything,” he said. “When the weather’s nice I’ll take a second to step back and just realize that everything in life is kind of not as bad as it may seem.

“I haven’t felt this good since I was 10 years old probably, so it’s pretty sweet.”

Follow Layne Weitzel on Twitter @laynejweitzel

Eric Banks tees off during Day 2 of the SunTrust Gator Invitational on Feb. 16 at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.

Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.